Post by pap49cba on Jan 5, 2015 10:10:06 GMT -5
Credit Duke for winning the battle, but is the program in Durham losing the war? Down 10-0 and 26-10 in Sunday's home game against Wake Forest, hours after they released the news that highly touted freshman starter Sierra Calhoun had left the program, the Blue Devils collected themselves and took a halftime lead they never relinquished in a 70-63 win. Without Calhoun, the backcourt is essentially Ka'lia Johnson and Rebecca Greenwell, with a few more minutes also available for junior college transfer Mercedes Riggs. That's a problem when it comes to stamina and dealing with quick opponents, and Duke committed 23 turnovers against the Demon Deacons, but Johnson and Greenwell combined for 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. You can win plenty of ACC games with those two scoring and getting the ball to Elizabeth Williams and all of Duke's still-abundant size.
But where is this program at the moment after losing a second top recruit in as many seasons? Joanne P. McCallie was brutal in her assessment of her players after the Connecticut loss, calling their effort "pathetic" and saying it was "typical" that there was "no defensive leadership" when Connecticut took control in the second half. Considering Connecticut has been doing much the same thing to Duke through a number of rosters in recent years, it was a curious distribution of accountability. Maybe the message needed to be blunt and maybe it resonated with players who didn't let a bad start Sunday become a capitulation. But from start to finish, the past seven days did not engender a great deal of confidence in the program's present or its future.
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But where is this program at the moment after losing a second top recruit in as many seasons? Joanne P. McCallie was brutal in her assessment of her players after the Connecticut loss, calling their effort "pathetic" and saying it was "typical" that there was "no defensive leadership" when Connecticut took control in the second half. Considering Connecticut has been doing much the same thing to Duke through a number of rosters in recent years, it was a curious distribution of accountability. Maybe the message needed to be blunt and maybe it resonated with players who didn't let a bad start Sunday become a capitulation. But from start to finish, the past seven days did not engender a great deal of confidence in the program's present or its future.
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